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THE AFTERMATH: SABRES 1, FLYERS 0

by
Rob Crean
/ Buffalo Sabres

THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

Miller

Boucher

Myers

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Ryan Miller made 32 saves for his second shutout of the playoffs and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0 on Wednesday night to even the first-round playoff series 2-2.

Jason Pominville scored at 9:38 of the first period to help the Sabres rebound from two straight losses.

It was Miller's third career playoff shutout and second of the series after he stopped 35 shots in Buffalo's 1-0 victory in Game 1.

Miller's best stops came in the final 9 minutes. First, there was his glove save in stopping Danny Briere, who was set up alone in front. A few minutes later, Miller reached back with his stick to prevent Mike Richards from slipping a shot into an open left side.

The series shifts to Philadelphia for Game 5 on Friday night.

Flyers goalie Brian Boucher was sharp, too, in stopping 28 shots.

Boucher has allowed only four goals on 87 shots since replacing rookie Sergei Bobrovsky in the first period of Philadelphia's 5-4 victory in Game 2 on Saturday. ...MORE.

Midway through the third period, the Sabres were still clinging to a 1-0 lead and the Flyers were applying pressure deep in the Buffalo zone. Former Sabre Danny Briere was working the puck behind the net when his pass toward the slot was intercepted by Nathan Gerbe, who kicked it to Paul Gaustad. Gaustad attempted to clear it but lost control of the puck before he could reach the blue line and Flyers defenseman Matt Carle stole it and fed a pass to the front of the net to a wide-open Briere. With no defenders in the immediate area, Briere was flat-footed but had time to make a move. He quickly stick handled in front of Miller as he looked for an opening, and when he took his shot, Miller robbed him with a glove save to bring the sellout crowd at HSBC Arena to its feet and setting off chants of “Ry-an Mill-er!"

Miller

For the second time in this series, Ryan Miller stood up to every shot the Flyers took on him and led the Sabres to a 1-0 victory. He made the routine saves and he made the spectacular saves, and by the time the final horn sounded, the Sabres had tied up the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. Miller finished with 32 saves on the night for his third career postseason shutout, stopping 11 shots in the first period, 10 in the second and 11 more in the final 20 minutes. While he was solid through the first two periods, he made two highlight reel saves in the third period, including a glove save on Briere (see above) and a diving stick save on Richards. Miller becomes the third Sabres goaltender to record two shutouts in one playoff series, joining Bob Sauve (vs. Montreal in 1983) and Dominik Hasek (vs. New Jersey in 1994). With the win, Miller improved to 2-2 with a 2.02 goals against average and a .937 save percentage.

- Jason Pominville opened the scoring with his first of the postseason off a feed from Rob Niedermayer. Tyler Ennis also picked up an assist on the goal for his first point of the playoffs.

We want to win enough to get through the series and move on and keep winning. It’s kinda whatever it takes at this point. I thought we did a great job establishing the lead tonight and we stuck to the game we need to play against these guys a lot better… But for the most part I thought we were good. We battled hard… Great effort from everybody and that’s the game plan, effort from everyone. Everybody do what they can.”- Sabres Goalie Ryan Miller

- The Sabres become the first NHL team since Calgary in 2004 (vs. Detroit) to win two 1-0 games in the same series. In addition, Buffalo is now 4-2 all-time in 1-0 playoff games.

- Mike Richards was assessed a five-minute major for elbowing with three seconds remaining in the second period and the Flyers successfully killed off the ensuing power play to begin the third period.

- Marc-Andre Gragnani had his four-game point streak (0-4-4) come to an end.

- Miller and Flyers goalie Brian Boucher, who finished with 28 saves, each took minor penalties. The last time Buffalo and Philadelphia goaltenders had penalties in the same game was a result of the famous fight between Steve Shields and Garth Snow.

- For the third time this series, Chris Butler led the Sabres in ice time, logging a game-high 27:45.

- Jordan Leopold, playing his second straight game since returning from injury, led the Sabres with three blocked shots while recording 21:01 of ice time. Tyler Myers, meanwhile, registered a game-high five hits.

- Ryan Miller and Daniel Carcillo mixed it up in the Buffalo crease midway through the second period, resulting in roughing minors for each player. Carcillo ranked second on the Flyers during the regular season with 127 penalty minutes.

- Philadelphia’s James van Riemsdyk collected a game-high six shots.

- Tonight’s attendance of 18,690 marked the 15th consecutive sellout at HSBC Arena. In addition, roughly 5,000 more Sabres fans watched the game outside the building at the Party in the Plaza.

- Shaone Morrisonn did not play due to an undisclosed injury for the third straight game while Andrej Sekera was also out of the lineup with an injury for the third time in four games this series.

The series shifts back to Philadelphia for pivotal Game 5 on Friday night. The teams split the first two games of the series at Wells Fargo Center, with Buffalo winning Game 1 by a 1-0 score and the Flyers taking Game 2, 5-4. Dating back to the regular season, the Sabres have won two of their last three outings in the City of Brotherly Love.